Railway-joint bridge



(No Model.)

'0. 0. WELLS.

RAILWAY JOINT BRIDGE.

Patented 0.01;. 2 1894.

F" .1 IL 3 2 UNITED STATES} PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES 'o. WELLS, or, [SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

Y 'RAl LWAY-JOIYNT BRIIDG E.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Iatent No. 526,954,dated October2, 1894.

Application nea'nmfi 8,1894. Serial No. 502,900. (NomodeL) To all whomit may concern: 7

Be it known that 1, CHARLES C. WELLS, a citizen of the United States,residing in the city and county of San Francisco, State of,

California, have invented an Improvement in Railway-Joint Bridges; and Ihereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionof the same.

My invention relates to a bridge for railway rail joints which isespecially applicable for the meeting ends of street railway rails.

It consists of the construction and arrangement of parts which I shallhereinafter describe and claim.

Referring to the accompanying drawings for a more complete explanationof my invention,-Figure 1 is a side View of the meeting ends of tworails with my appliance in place, showing one of them in section. Fig. 2is a top View of the meeting rails showing a portion of one of them insection also. Fig. 3 shows them separated from one another.

The object of my invention is especially to relieve the jar caused bythe pounding of the wheels when the cars cross the joints formed by themeeting ends of street railway rails, and by causing an essentiallysmooth passage of the wheels over these joints to enable the rails to beplaced with the meeting ends at any point desirable, to rest upon theyokes which form the cable tunnels of cable roads or at any point wherethey may happen to abut.

A A are the meeting ends of two rails. The heads of these rails havevertical channels made in them, these channels being of essentiallyrectangular outline of the same width from top to bottom. The verticalends of the channels may be semi-circular as would be the case if theywere made by first boring into the top of the rail and afterward planingout the channel between this bore and the end of the rail, or they may,if otherwise formed, be straight or of other suitable shape. Theconnecting bridge 0 is a rectangular plate of metal adapted to fitloosely the channels made in the ends of the rails. The ends of theplate are slightly lower than the upper surfaces of the rails in whichit is embedded, so that when the wheels reach this point, they do notstrike the ends of these plates, but roll 'a short distance over thembefore taking a bearing upon the upwardly curving upper edge of theplate. This upward curve rises sufficiently to practically lift thewheel above the joint between the rails, and as it passes over thiscurvature and down upon the opposite side, it comes down gently andeasily upon the surface of the next adjoining rail. These plates arepreferably held in place in the channels in the rails by pins Eextending through transverse. holes in the rails, and slots F made inthe ends of the plates correspending in position with the holes in therails. These slots allow for a certain amount of end movement, andvertical rocking movement of the plate, and for such change of positionof the rails as may take place by slight separation of the rail ends.

In the construction shown I use twobolts, one in each rail head, passingthrough slots of considerable length in the connecting bridge, and byreason of this arrangement there isalways a certain amount of hinge-likemovement allowed to the rails, which is especially manifest when themeeting ends of the rails have settled or been raised a little. If fourbolts were used as is usual in this class of devices, the parts would berigidly held,

and would not allow of any adjustment, but with a single bolt in eachend of the bridge bar and an elongated slot, there is formed a loosehinged joint which, while allowing a movement of the joint, does notdestroy the smooth surfaceover which the Wheel passes, and obviates thepounding and shock which would soon batter the end of the rail andgreatly damage it before the track repairers would have time to bringthe rail into its proper alignment. The slots provide for a certainamount of end movement and adj ustment of the bridge bar, andconsequently for such change of position as may take place by a slightseparation of the rail ends.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1; A bridge for the joints formed by the abutting ends of railway rails,consisting of a rectangular bridge bar having the upper side madeconvex, and the lower portions of the ends and lower edges rounded, anda single elongated slot ineach end, open-ended spondingly-shapedchannels in the top of each rail end, into which the bridge bar looselyfits, andasingl'e bolt passing through each rail end 1 5 and thecorresponding slot in each end of the bar whereby a loosely hinged andmovable joint is formed, substantially as herein described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my 20 hand.

CHARLES C. WELLS.

Witnesses:

S. H. Nonasn, J. A. BAYLESS.

